Introduction

Back in the old days before 1994, students had to use textbooks, magazines, television and the library to collect information. These are still good things, but now you can also use the World Wide Web. Explore the Internet links on this page and look for good facts, quotations, examples, images, sound clips and video files. Imagine that you're an explorer in cyberspace and your job is to come back from a virtual journey with lots of artifacts and souvenirs to teach people back home what you learned! What's collected can then be pinned on a classroom bulletin board, pasted into an in-class newsletter, featured in a student-made multimedia stack, or posted as a Web page.

Keep this question in mind as you work:

What's it all about? How do the links on this page describe what we're studying?

Instructions

1. Explore the Internet sites linked below. You're looking for facts, quotes, examples, images, sound clips, videos, and animations that you think are important aspects of the topic.

2. When you find something you like, check its Web page for a copyright notice. Often, students are encouraged to copy things that will only be used in the classroom. Sometimes people don't want their work copied at all. A good practice is looking for an e-mail link on the page and then using it to ask permission.

3. Copy any text you want by dragging across the words, then using the Edit - Copy command on the menubar. Paste what you highlighted into a basic text editor, word processor, desktop publishing program or multimedia program.

4. Save images you like by downloading them. Paste the images you've downloaded into a multimedia, paint or desktop publishing program (like HyperStudio, Clarisworks, or PageMaker) or use one of the graphics viewers listed as Tools on this page to display your collection of images.

5. Be prepared to cut anything that copyright owners tell you they don't want you to have.

6. Once you have collected your information, go over it carefully so that you can give clear and thoughtful reasons why you found the things you collected especially important.
   

The Internet Resources

• Poetry 4 Kids - Poetry page by children's author/poet Kenn Nesbitt (No More Homework! No More Tests! (Meadowbrook Press, 1996) Miles of Smiles: Kids Pick the Funniest Poems Book #3 (Meadowbrook Press, 1998) A Bad Case of the Giggles: Kids Pick the Funniest Poems Book #2 (Meadowbrook Press) Kids Pick the Funniest Poems)

• Giggle Poetry - Giggle Poetry is the premier web site for humorous children's verse on the web.

• Enjoy Poetry! - An Internet hotlist of children's poetry sites.

• KidzPage - A collection of poetry and verse for children of all ages.

Tools

References

Hypertext Webster Dictionary

Get definitions to many words quickly.

Roget's Internet Thesaurus

Find words that have similar meanings to words you run across.

Grabbing Web Images

Follow a friendly step-by-step tutorial on how to grab images from the Web.

Software

download JPEGView (Macintosh)

Software for showing images

download Lview Pro (Windows)

Software for showing images

HyperStudio

Multimedia authorware used at many schools. Check out the Website for support, ideas, and the Netscape Plug-In

Shareware.com

Thousands of software programs you may want to download and use.

HTML Tutorial

Create your own Web page to show what you've learned.